The Language of Stones

by RobertCarter (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2004

  $3.29

  Tolkien and TH White parallels abound in this huge slice of mythic fiction set in 15th century England. England is about to enter an era of unimaginable divison and destruction: the Wars of the Roses. The wizard Gwydion and his young apprentice Willand must undertake a great quest to save the land from devastation by terrible warfare between rival factions for the crown. On the one side is Duke Richard of Ebor and his sons and allies; on the other the sickly King Hal and devilish wife Queen Mag and her sorcerer Maskull, Gwydion's evil counterpart. England is a still-magical land, crisscrossed by lines of power which run from one great sarsen stone to another. The lines must be paired (male and female, peaceable and warlike) to maintain the Balance - of Nature, of magic, and the equanimity of man - and so protect the land. But the purity of the lines' magic has been subverted over millennia: first by the Slavers who came and laid their own grids of stone roads, tearing up the stones from their rightful places to build their cities and temples; and now by the sinister Sightless Ones, whose joyless, ritual-bound religion has displaced the ways of the true folk of the land.

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $3.29

  A rich and evocative tale set in a mythic 15th century Britain, to rival the work of Bernard Cornwell.

  The Realm is poised for war. Its weak king - Hal, grandson of a usurper - is dominated by his beautiful wife and her lover. Against them stands Duke Richard of Ebor and his allies. The two sides are set on a bloody collision course...

  Gwydion is watching over the Realm. He has walked the land since before the time of the druids, since before the Slavers came to subdue the people. Gwydion was here when Arthur rode to war: then they called him 'Merlyn'. But for his young apprentice, Willand, a fearsome lesson in the ways of men and power lies ahead.

  The Realm is an England that is still-magical. Legendary beasts still populate its by-ways. It is a land criss-crossed by lines of power upon which standing stones have been set as a secret protection against invasion. But the power of the array was broken by the Slavers who laid straight roads across the land and built walled cities of shattered stone.

  A thousand years have passed since then, and those roads and walls have fallen into decay. The dangerous stones are awakening, and their unruly influence is calling men to battle. Unless Gwydion and Will can unearth them, the Realm will be plunged into a disastrous civil war. But there are many enemies ranged against them: men, monsters and a sorcerer who is as powerful as Gwydion himself.